This Extraordinary Being
"This Extraordinary Being" is the sixth episode in the first season of HBO's Watchmen, and sixth episode overall. It aired on November 24, 2019. Premise Deep under the influence of Nostalgia, Angela gets a firsthand account of her grandfather's journey. Plot Two agents named Art and Jerry, question Hooded Justice and express their admiration towards him. They note that the Minutemen put away dozens of super-villains, and Hooded Justice was the first. In this latest episode of American Hero Story, he gets taken into custody, at first The agents calls Hooded Justice and the Minutemen true American Heroes. But then the agents ask him about what the story is behind the noose around his neck. One theory is that it’s connected to how executioners used to dress. The other is that it’s related to sex stuff. He gets told they know that he’s gay and bring up Captain Metropolis. They mention that they need him to bring them a film that Captain Metropolis has hidden away in his home. The agents tell him to take his hood off so they can take a photo of his face. Hooded Justice refuses, and the agents note that Captain Metropolis has a roll of film with sex stuff on it, and Metropolis is blackmailing Hoover. Jerry tells Hooded Justice that he's going to bring them the film, and they'll tear up the photo of Hooded Justice they're going to take in return for the vigilante's cooperation. Hooded Justice finally removes his mask, and Jerry starts to take a photo of him. But just as he’s told to say cheese after he has complied in unmasking himself, he punches one of the agents and beats them up to the point that he kills them. In the episode of AHS, the voiceover from Hooded Justice mentions how he’s really angry that Nelson is cheating on him with Hoover no less. As American Hero Story plays in the police station, Laurie comes in and tells the cops to turn that shit off. An officer tells Laurie that Angela needs treatment before she goes into a coma. Undeterred, Laurie confronts Angela in her cell and asks where Will is. Angela says nothing, and Laurie explains how Nostalgia makers harvest memories and put them into pills. According to Laurie, they insert little chips into your brain, and they harvest your memories, and then they put them in a little pill and you pop one, and you get to experience that shit all over again. It was supposed to be for older folks and as a treatment for those with dementia. But that limited the market. People eventually got hooked on them because who wants to be in the present, when you can live in the past? So as more people got hooked and dependency, as well as the number of overdoses, increased, Redford and the FDA outlawed it. But as it just so happens, Trieu owns the company that made those pills. Meanwhile, Angela fades in and out of consciousness, and Laurie warns her that the pills are bad. She tells Angela to sign a release so they can get her stomach pumped, and Angela sees memories of a police officer playing a drum. More memories flood her mind and she collapses. Angela finds herself in Will's body in 1938 as he graduates the police academy. The chief gives a speech and then pins a badge on each graduate's jacket... except Will's. The black officer, Lt. Battle, does it instead, and tells Will to beware of the Cyclops and shakes Will's hand. Later, Will has drinks with a reporter named June. He admits that the police in the city kill black people and that the police department just hired him for the good publicity it would bring them. June says that he's an angry man, and most of them are. Will wonders what he should be angry about, and June tells him that his parents were murdered in front of him. He says that he doesn't want to live in the past, and June tells him that's why he's angry. Will's mother plays the piano in his memories as he goes on foot patrol. He sees a white man, Fred, throwing a Molotov into a Jewish delicatessen. The man walks away and Will goes after him. Fred suggests that a rat chewed through a wire, setting the place on fire. Will arrests him and takes him to the station, and Fred denies starting the fire. The desk sergeant says it was a case of mistaken identity, and Fred asks the other officers who they're going to believe. One officer takes offense when Fred calls Will a "spook" and tells Fred to apologize. Once Fred does, the officer leads Fred away. Will goes to a newspaper stand and the vendor shows him a copy of Action Comics #1. Will seems to identify with Superman because like him, his parents shipped him away from the destruction of their home, to hopefully give him a better life. Fred bumps past Will and smiles when Will calls him out for it. Will goes back to the station and asks the desk sergeant if he let Fred go. The desk sergeant tells Will to let it be, warning him that they'll kill him if he doesn't drop it. Will is on his way home, when three officers pull up and offer him a ride home and then invite him for a beer. When Will refuses, they drive off and Will pictures them dragging two bodies behind them on the police car. Just like during the Tulsa riots all those years back. The officers drive back, cutting Will off as he walks through an alley and then beat him up. Later, the officers drag Will to a tree and string him up. They cut him down at the last moment and tell him to keep his black nose out of white folks' business or the next time they won't cut him down. Once they leave, Will looks at the hood they put over his head before they strung him up. He walks home, the noose still around his neck, and hears a woman scream. Tearing eye holes into the hood, Will puts it on and attacks the men attacking the woman and her husband. He viciously beats the robbers unconscious, and the couple thank him before running off. Later, Will returns home and tells June that he's angry. She hugs him, crying. The next afternoon, June tends to Will's injuries. She says that the newspapers are calling the masked Will a hero. June asks why Will put the hood back on, and asks what the name of the movie was that he watched as a boy. Will remembers that it was Trust In The Law!, and says that it ends with Bass Reeves in a hood lassoing a crooked sheriff. He says that eventually the theater was burned down in the Tulsa race riots, and June tells him that he'll get justice by wearing the hood and letting people believe he's a white man. She puts white makeup around his eyes and asks if he really wants to do this, and Will says that he's sure. That night, the new Hooded Justice figures that Fred is involved with the Cyclops. He watches as Fred and his friends go into the back of a grocery store, and then breaks in and takes out the KKK men inside. Once Hooded Justice has taken them down, he finds a book on Mesmerism. A man attacks him and they burst into the grocery store that Fred owns. Fred fires a shotgun at Hooded Justice, who dives out the window. In the present, Laurie examines the unconscious Angela and tells her that she swallowed a lethal dose of Nostalgia and they gave her a shot of adrenaline to wake her up. Angela's eyes are wide open but she's not moving, and Laurie has Cal read something to Angela to get her out. Cal reads Angela's history and says that he's her husband, and reminds her that it's 2019. He asks her to wake up and come home, but Angela ends up slipping back into the memories of her grandfather. The next memory of Will shows him and June eating at home when Nelson Gardner arrives and introduces himself. June refuses to leave them alone. Nelson tells Will that he's there on behalf of a costumed adventurer named Captain Metropolis. Metropolis would like to form a team of patriots and heroes, with the name being The New Minutemen. When Will wonders what any of this has to do with him, Nelson says that the team needs Hooded Justice. Metropolis has concluded that a cop is feeding Hooded Justice information on criminals, and believes Will is that cop. June correctly deduces that Nelson is Captain Metropolis by pointing to the same blonde hair, build and height that Nelson and Captain Metropolis have. Will asks him what "Cyclops" means to him. He says that the KKK is Cyclops, and Nelson figures it's a job for the Minutemen. June says that Hooded Justice shouldn't join the Minutemen, and Nelson tells Will that Hooded Justice can have true companionship among fellow humans with the same goals as his. Nelson gives Will his card and leaves. Once they're alone, June tells Will no, and Will says yes. Later, Nelson and Will end up in bed. Nelson lies that he realized Will was Hooded Justice when they met. But Will points out that he knows Nelson that the Hooded Justice was a white man. Nelson goes onto say that the Minutemen will be thrilled to have Hooded Justice alongside them. That they know with him on their team, it legitimizes the whole operation. He does warn Will that the others can't know Will's secret identity, because some of them aren't as tolerant as he is. He then gets up from the bed, and goes to fetch his mask. He suggests that they wear their masks the next time they have sex. Nelson admires Will's beauty and says that it's a shame the others can't see it. Later, Will and June lie in bed. Will admits that he needs a team to take down Cyclops, and he talks about how he found June in the grass after he escaped Tulsa. June tells him to never make her start crying again, and when he agrees she reveals to him that she's pregnant. Will puts on his white makeup and looks at clippings of Nazis in the U.S. and his own exploits. He then joins the other Minutemen and Metropolis presents him to talk with the press. Hooded Justice says that he has evidence of a secret conspiracy, and Metropolis intervenes and says that a crime wave is being planned by Moloch. Will goes back to his room and removes his hood and makeup dejected. In a montage June is seen raising their son Marcus, who watches Will put on his makeup one day. Will reads stories about the continued Negro lynchings. As an officer, he gets summoned to a movie theater. They send him in and bring out black patrons, and talks to a woman named Lorna. Lorna says that there was a flicker when the picture started. Later they told her that she hurt people, but Lorna doesn't remember. Will figures that it involves Cyclops and the book on mesmerism that he found, goes out, and sees men loading projection equipment into a truck that's going to a warehouse. Later outside the warehouse, Will calls Nelson and tells him what happened. Nelson dismisses it as nothing serious and doesn't believe the Klan is using mind control. He tells him that Will’s mission just isn’t the Minutemen’s cup of tea. Nelson says that the Klan using mind control sounds so ridiculous and to hear himself at how crazy it sounds. Thus, Will is just going to have to solve black unrest all on his own. Instead, he invites Will to come over and talk about it, and refuses to bring the Minutemen to help. Will hangs up and then smashes the receiver into the phone. Fred is outside watching, and says that Will doesn't walk a beat there. He offers Will free steaks, and Will realizes that Fred owns the warehouse and doesn't remember their first interaction. When Fred casually insults Will, Will shoots him in the head; instantly killing him. Will then puts on his hood, goes into the warehouse, and finds the other Klansmen and the police working on the projection equipment. He shoots them as well, looks at the projector plans, and goes into the next room where the officer from the station is preparing a subliminal film about how blacks should only attack each other and never harm whites. Will's gun is empty so he strangles the officer with the microphone cord. Will then gathers the bodies, pours gasoline on them, and burns them. He takes one projector, goes outside, and watches the warehouse burn down. Will returns home with the projector and sees Marcus putting on his white makeup and wearing a noose around his neck. The boy says that he's like Will, and Will says no. When June comes out, she tells him that he can't ever take it off because he can't stand to see himself now. She thought it would help him get rid of his anger, but being Hooded Justice just fed his anger. June says that she's going back to Tulsa, tells him to stay away from them before leaving with Marcus. Decades later, a now-elderly Will holds the noose in his hand and sits by the side of the road. When Judd's car hits Will's tire ripper, Judd gets out and Will shines a flickering flashlight in his face. He mind-controls Judd to push him to the tree, turns off the light, and says that he's justice. Judd insists that he's trying to help them and they don't know what's really happening, and Will points out that Judd has a Klan robe in his closet. The police chief says that it belongs to his grandfather, and says that Will doesn't know him. Will says that he does and motions a single eye on his forehead, the sign that other Cyclos members used to identify one another. Will then shines the light in Judd's face and tells him to hang himself. Unable to resist, Judd does so. In the meantime, Angela wakes up gasping, a tube hooked up to her arm. Trieu is there and welcomes Angela back. Cast Main Cast *Regina King as Angela Abar/Sister Night *Jean Smart as Laurie Blake *Don Johnson as Judd Crawford *Hong Chau as Lady Trieu *Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Calvin Abar *Louis Gossett Jr. as Will Reeves Guest Starring *Jovan Adepo as Young Will Reeves *Jake McDorman as Nelson Gardner *Glenn Fleshler as Fred *Cheyenne Jackson as Hooded Justice *Danielle Deadwyler as June Reeves *Erik Palladino as Agent Art *Valeri Ross as Old Woman Co-Starring *Adam Drescher as Agent Jerry *Greg Weeks as Paramedic *Dany Boyd, Jr. as Will Reeves *Marissa Chanel Hampton as Lorna *John Newberg as Chief *Thomas K. Belgrey as Werner *Philly Plowden as Sam Battle *Jamal Akakpo as Bass Reeves *Jordan Salloum as Officer Boquin *Charlie Talbert as Desk Sergeant *Jason Collett as Well Dressed Man *Catherine Eure as Woman Getting Attacked *Ryan Homchick as White Cop (1950) *Jaiden N. Bostic as Marcus *Daniel Paris as Reporter *Steven G. Norfleet as O.B. Williams *Alexis Louder as Ruth Williams *Landon Durrence as Adorable White Boy *Victoria Blade as Mom *Charles Green as Preacher *Kyle McDuffie as Sheriff Trivia *This is the first episode to receive a viewer discretion warning due to the strobing effects. **It's also largely shot in black/white. *The man who pins a badge on Will Reeves as he graduates from the police academy is apparently Lieutenant Samuel J. Battle, a real life figure who was New York’s first black police officer. *Will’s makeup under the Hooded Justice mask is an echo of how Angela Abar sprays a mask onto her face as Sister Night. *Will is assigned to the 113th Precinct in the southeast part of Queens, New York. This lines up with the chapters of Under the Hood which place the first two Hooded Justice sightings in Queens. **The details of the first (i.e.the mugging) are consistent with those of the book, with the only exception being that the witnesses felt their savior had “dropped into the alleyway from above” rather than charged in as we see here. *The first full costume Hooded Justice appearance that made the news (as recounted in Under the Hood) is the supermarket incident, also dramatized in an earlier episode of American Hero Story. **This one is drastically different, with Hooded Justice leaping out through the window rather than in, and the attack having nothing to do with a supermarket stickup gone wrong. **This illustrates just how well the Order of the Cyclops is able to cover up events and twist narratives to their advantage. *The romaine lettuce seen in the supermarket is a nice callback to the first present day scenes seen in "It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice". *Fred’s “what the fuck are you supposed to be?” when he sees Hooded Justice for the first time mirrors something that Hollis Mason noted in Under the Hood, about how the costumed heroes felt more at home when they had someone else larger-than-life to fight. “You see, if you’re the only one who’d bothered to turn up for a free-for-all in costume, you tended to look kind of stupid. If the bad guys joined in as well, it wasn’t so bad, but without them it was always sort of embarrassing.” *In the previous episode, when Looking Glass was following members of the Seventh Kavalry into an abandoned mall, what is spotted is some graffiti on the walls of a large red eye. This appears to be the same logo used by the KKK’s Order of the Cyclops. Gallery Promotional stills This Extraordinary Being Promotional Image 01.jpg This Extraordinary Being Promotional Image 02.jpg This Extraordinary Being Promotional Image 03.jpg S1 E6.jpg S1e6 promo laurie.jpeg Will in Episode 6 vs Episode 1.jpg Screenshots This Extraordinary Being Title Card.jpg Watchmen logo changes to Minutemen Logo in S 1 E 6.png Warning at the beginning of S 1 E 6.png American Hero Story logo in S1 E6.png Hooded Justice unmasked on American Hero Story episode .png Newspapers on S1 E6.png Old Man reading Action Comics Issue No. 1 in S1 E 6.png Angela as Will Reeves in S 1 E 6.jpg Will puts on hood in S1 E 6.png Cyclops using Mesmerism in S1 E6.png Cyclops map of towns they planned to target to brainwash in S1 E6.png Hooded Justice jumps through window in S1 E6.png Nelson Gardner meets Will Reeves for the first time in S1 E6.png Nelson in bed with a young Will in S1 E6.png Nelson Gardner shirtless and with his mask on in S1 E6.png The Minutemen in S1 E6.jpg Jake McDorman as Nelson Gardner in S 1 E 6.png Will as Hooded Justice with cop badge on in S1 E6.jpg Peteypedia Blake-memo-actual-work1.png|MEMO: What Has One Eye and Loves Evil Plans? Blake-memo-actual-work2.png|MEMO: What Has One Eye and Loves Evil Plans? Memo-the-will-of-nelson-gardner1.png|EVIDENCE: The Will of Nelson Gardner Memo-the-will-of-nelson-gardner2.png|EVIDENCE: The Will of Nelson Gardner Memo-the-will-of-nelson-gardner3.png|EVIDENCE: The Will of Nelson Gardner Memo-the-will-of-nelson-gardner4.png|EVIDENCE: The Will of Nelson Gardner Memo-the-will-of-nelson-gardner5.png|EVIDENCE: The Will of Nelson Gardner Memo-the-will-of-nelson-gardner6.png|EVIDENCE: The Will of Nelson Gardner Lady-trieu-fact-or-fiction-1.png|CLIPPING: "Lady Trieu: Fact of Fiction" Lady-trieu-fact-or-fiction-2.png|CLIPPING: "Lady Trieu: Fact of Fiction" Lady-trieu-fact-or-fiction-3.png|CLIPPING: "Lady Trieu: Fact of Fiction" Behind the Scenes BTS S1 E6 part 1.jpg BTS S1 E6 part 2.jpg BTS S1 E6 part 3.jpg BTS S1 E6 part 4.jpg PeteyPediaFilefromEpisode6.jpg Videos Watchmen Episode 6 Promo HBO Watchmen Episode 6 HBO - TOP 10 WTF and Easter Eggs Navigation 106 6